Youth Indicators, 2005: Trends in the Well-Being of American Youth

Indicator 19: Dropouts

Table 19. Percentage of persons ages 16 to 24 years who were status dropouts, by sex and race/ethnicity: 1972 to 2003
		Sex		Race/ethnicity
Year	All persons	Male	Female	White, non-Hispanic	Black, non-Hispanic	Hispanic
1972	14.6	14.1	15.1	12.3	21.3	34.3
1973	14.1	13.7	14.5	11.6	22.2	33.5
1974	14.3	14.2	14.3	11.9	21.2	33.0
1975	13.9	13.3	14.5	11.4	22.9	29.2
1976	14.1	14.1	14.2	12.0	20.5	31.4
1977	14.1	14.5	13.8	11.9	19.8	33.0
1978	14.2	14.6	13.9	11.9	20.2	33.3
1979	14.6	15.0	14.2	12.0	21.1	33.8
1980	14.1	15.1	13.1	11.4	19.1	35.2
1981	13.9	15.1	12.8	11.3	18.4	33.2
1982	13.9	14.5	13.3	11.4	18.4	31.7
1983	13.7	14.9	12.5	11.1	18.0	31.6
1984	13.1	14.0	12.3	11.0	15.5	29.8
1985	12.6	13.4	11.8	10.4	15.2	27.6
1986	12.2	13.1	11.4	9.7	14.2	30.1
1987	12.6	13.2	12.1	10.4	14.1	28.6
1988	12.9	13.5	12.2	9.6	14.5	35.8
1989	12.6	13.6	11.7	9.4	13.9	33.0
1990	12.1	12.3	11.8	9.0	13.2	32.4
1991	12.5	13.0	11.9	8.9	13.6	35.3
1992¹	11.0	11.3	10.7	7.7	13.7	29.4
1993¹	11.0	11.2	10.9	7.9	13.6	27.5
1994¹	11.4	12.3	10.6	7.7	12.6	30.0
1995¹	12.0	12.2	11.7	8.6	12.1	30.0
1996¹	11.1	11.4	10.9	7.3	13.0	29.4
1997¹	11.0	11.9	10.1	7.6	13.4	25.3
1998¹	11.8	13.3	10.3	7.7	13.8	29.5
1999¹	11.2	11.9	10.5	7.3	12.6	28.6
2000¹	10.9	12.0	9.9	6.9	13.1	27.8
2001¹	10.7	12.2	9.3	7.3	10.9	27.0
2002¹	10.5	11.8	9.2	6.5	11.3	25.7
2003¹	9.9	11.3	8.4	6.3	10.9	23.5
¹Because of changes in data collection procedures, data may not be comparable with figures prior to 1992.
NOTE: 'Status' dropouts are 16- to 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and who have not completed a high school program regardless of when they left school. People who have received GED credentials are counted as high school completers. All data are based an October counts. Data are based upon sample surveys of the civilian noninstitutionalized population.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, based on U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October, unpublished data.

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